This paper, presented at the International Conference on Asian Digital Libraries, aims to uncover the types of rumors and "counter-rumors" (or debunks) that surfaced on Twitter following the falsely reported death of former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. Researchers analyzed 4,321 tweets about Lee's death and found six categories of rumors, four categories of counter-rumors and two categories belonging to neither. With more counter-rumors than rumors, the study's results suggest that Twitter users often attempt to stop the spread of false rumors online.

Researchers examined a final selection of 20 experiments from 1994 to 2015 that address fake social and political news accounts in order to determine the most effective ways to combat beliefs based on misinformation. The headline finding is that correcting misinformation is possible, but it's often not as strong as the misinformation itself. The analysis has several take-aways for fact-checkers, most notably the importance of creating counter-messages and alternative narratives if they want to change their audiences’ minds and getting on to the correction as quickly as possible.

Study Title

Debunking: A Meta-Analysis of the Psychological Efficacy of Messages Countering Misinformation

Twitter reflects the good, the bad and just plain ugly reality of social media these days. For academics, journalists and voters, there’s never been a more crucial time to talk about the impact these social media platforms have on factual journalism and being watchdogs of the powerful.

It’s in vogue to attack the messenger for the message. We are called liars. We are called “nasty people.” We are told to shut up.

Twitter just made it a little easier to determine which users have that little blue tick.

Beginning today, the social network is identifying verified users in additional places across its platform. This means tweets from verified accounts will be marked as such in Twitter's main timeline rather than exclusively on their individual pages.

Previously, users had to navigate to each profile to determine whether their tweets were verified or not.

Twitter took a prominent stand against online abuse last week when it permanently suspended the account of Milo Yiannopoulos, tech editor at Breitbart News and a high-profile figure in the internet's alt-right movement.

Philip Corbett, the associate managing editor for standards at The New York Times, reminded the newsroom on Monday that, in the wake of the Orlando shooting, they shouldn't use their social media accounts to editorialize, promote their political views or take sides on controversial issues.

Here's the memo, sent to the newsroom an hour ago:

Colleagues:

In the middle of a contentious presidential campaign, and after the terrible events in Orlando, this may be a good time for a reminder about posting on social media.